Animals Help Children With Autism Interact Better
Nadia Shanab | Uncategorized28 Feb 2013
I wrote an article entitled: “Dogs Can Help Your Autistic Child “: autism-tips.com/?p=797 to emphasize the benefits of having a dog on the autistic behavior.
A very recent research from Australia has shown an increased positive social behaviors in the presence of an animal. The research was run on kids aging between five and thirteen with ASD. The interaction between adults and kids was observed in the presence of two guinea pigs versus toys.
In the presence of the two guinea pigs the kids showed more social behaviors such as: talking, making physical contact, looking at faces. They have also noticed that kids laughed and smiled more often and also reduced behaviors of: frowining, whining, and crying.
The presence of animals has the effect of a “social lubricant” in human social interactions in general, and in particular for people with socio-emotional disabilities.
It is thought that the animals assist kids with ASD to communicate better with adults like teachers and therapist. It might be beneficial for these kids to have animals in their classrooms to reduce the stress of the classroom environment and all its challenges they have to endure everyday.
Read the full report here:
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257041.php
Check out this link : The bond between an Aspie and her cat
nadia shanab
Tags: animals, autism, communication, dogs, parenting, social interaction
